There is little doubt that Australia was seen as a 'golden land' during the 1850s and 60s and became a major destination. The convict shackles were off and the gold rush fever consumed the bulk of the population. As the colonies grew it became necessary to offer land grants to encourage pastoral growth. This was a land built on pioneering spirit and fast horses.

  • GOLD
  • EMIGRATION AND FREE SELECTION
  • FEMALE EMIGRANTS
  • Sydney Folklore Project CONTENTS



    • SECTION 4: Gold and Mining

    Answer To 'Will You Ever Go Home.'
    (Tune: All Got A Down Upon Me)


    Chinese Emigration
    (Tune: Guy Fawkes)


    DSM/A821/R
    CradlingTHE NEW RUSH
    Poems and songs of J. Jogers
    Songster size/Blue printed cover. 2/-
    Dated 1864
    Published Melbourne. Wilson & Mackinnon. Collins St East
    Contains mostly poetry plus the following item:

    Billy Barlow

    Published in Maitland Mercury and Hunter River:
    Goldfields Wisdom
    If Tommy Lee and Bobby Gray are partners in a claim
    And Tommy Lee declines to work and Bobby Gray the same
    When time arrives to purchase food and other things beside,
    How many pounds and shillings will this precious pair divide?

    The Digger's Toast
    There is a glossary at the end of the booklet including a reference to 'hatter' being a miner who works alone � i.e. mad as a hatter.

    HALF A DOZEN BALLADS FOR AUSTRALIAN EMIGRANTS
    DSMA821/P
    1853 London

    A Ballad For The Gold Diggers


    THE AUSTRALIAN GOLD DIGGER'S MONTHLY
    059/124
    1852/3
    Published in Melbourne by James Bonwick.
    Songster size.

    Advice to the Digger

    READ- struggle hard against your disinclination to read. We know what the difficulties and inconveniences of a digger's life are, and how hard it is to bring the mind to read. But battle manfully for mental food. When the intellect is starved, the moral power is weakened, and refined pleasure is lost forever.

    Good Habits. The man, who cannot resist the moral antagonism of the diggings, shows that he has very little good principle at bottom. Health. The hot weather is coming and our friends must look after bad eyes and dysentery. No one should be without some sulphate of zinc for eye water, and arrowroot when under and bowel attack. Beware of bad water and sod damper. Attend to cleanliness, guard against sudden chills, and lie not upon the ground.

    Letter from a digger in New South Wales


    The Miner's Song
    Imperial Songster 1917
    On Saturday we leave at one
    On Sunday we've got money to burn
    But on Monday and Tuesday none
    Wednesday we start on the borrow
    Thursday we promise to pay
    And sing he's a Jolly Good Fellow
    When Friday comes, Hooray.

    Gold fragment
    Australian Journal1868 and quoted in article as a song.
    Then why should we pine for vain riches
    Or any such glittering toys?
    A light heart and thin pair of breeches
    Will go through the word my brave boys.

    Diggers Song
    Australian Journal 1865 from The Black Sheep
    � a tale of Australian life by Arthur Davitt.


    Ben Bolt In Melbourne
    (Tune: Ben Bolt)
    From Melbourne Punch 1855


    Kalgoorlie
    March 1868 'The Great Kalgoorlie Riot' from John Greenway book 'The Last frontier'

    When the roofs of Kalgoorlie glean bright over the plain
    They are carefully checking the lists of the slain
    There's a square yard of glass come to grief in the shops
    And buttons the less amongst seventeen cops.

    Ossie Eyre
    From Donald Friend.
    (Tune MacNamara's Band)
    Ossie Eyre was the hotelkeeper of the Royal


    Goldfields ditty
    Sent to the Aust Journal 1872 by "A digger at Fiery Creek"

    There's Willie and Charlie and Tommy too
    Running about without a show
    Picking up nuggets one and two
    Because they have nothing better to do

    Coolgardie

    Coolgardie Coolgardie a wonderful spot
    Where the summer is burning and the winter is hot
    Where hundreds are suffering in miseries untold
    And the only thing is gold gold gold

    A LIFE ON THE DIGGINGS FREE
    (Tune: A Life On The Rolling Sea)
    THE ARMCHAIR MAGAZINE
    Published Melbourne and also appears as Armchair Chronicle
    1853


    Quoted in 'Lizard Island' the life of Mrs Wilson by Jillian Robertson.
    The author was recalling her history in the Queensland gold rush era.

    Old Palmer Song

    The Australian Journal
    April 1872
    From the correspondence column

    The Burra Burra Mine
    (A Song of The Olden Time)
    From a SA Newspaper April 1880
    Copper mine
    BY A BUSHMAN

    The World Is Now Turned Upside-Down
    (AIR: OH SUSANNAH)
    POEMS WRITTEN IN YOUTH
    WILLIAM WALKER
    1984 Sydney
    Mitchell Library
    Written at the breaking out of the Gold Diggings 1851

    The Land of Gold
    AUSTRALIAN MELODIST NO 21
    Sung with success everywhere by Will Danvers

    Bill Jinks
    AUSTRALIAN MELODIST NO 21
    Marcus Clarke

    A rare broadside publisghed by Ryle & Co., Printers, Monmouth Court, Bloomsbury, London. With a note "just come from the Diggings. Oh! Dear!" � it can be dated around 1855-65

    The ballad makes comment on the highly inflated prices of goods in Sydney during the goldrush era, often ten times the price of the same goods in London.

    I've Been to Australia-O
    Mitchell Library. Document Drawer/Broadside
    (Tune: The Old Alarm Clock)
    THE BULLETIN
    July 20. 1889
    With a note 'It is said that payable gold has been found in Ireland, and a large number of Irish are expected to flock back to share in the benefits of the discovery :-
    This is typical of the satirical comic parodies published anonymously in early magazines.

    When Paddy Goes Marching Home
    (Tune: When Johnny Comes Marching Home)

    AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL Sept 1870 Article on the Victorian goldfields also by Tom Tallfern who is attributed as composer of Tailing a Kangaroo (aka Old Man Kangaroo)
    He quotes, "Sung by a ballad singer who informed her admiring audience that �"

    The Plains of Bendigo
    AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL
    Sept 1870

    From the 'Detective Album', which was, a series started 1865. One of the characters is quoted singing:

    Look Out Below
    AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL
    May, 1876
    It is interesting to speculate why this was quoted. It is a verse from Thatcher's most popular gold rush song 'Look Out Below'. The contributor wrote as 'Waif Wander' and had been a digger � possibly he got the verse direct from Thatcher?




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